14 - Haven
HAVEN
I didn’t just wake up shivering, I was shaking all over.
This wasn’t the kind of cold you could ignore, either. Not the kind that faded if you tucked your hands under your arms and dove deeper into your blankets.
This was tougher. Sharper. The kind of biting cold that was absolutely relentless.
At the moment, my teeth actually chattered. I wondered absently if that’s what woke me up. I forced my eyes open and saw how utterly dark it was. All blackness, except for the window.
Frost had crept along the edges, feathered and white. It was working its way inward, turning everything opaque.
Fuuuuuuck…
I exhaled, and I could see my breath. Not just a little bit, either. I could see it a lot.
“Unreal,” I muttered, my voice barely carrying.
This wasn’t normal. This wasn’t cool. This wasn’t something I should have to endure; job or no job.
Pushing myself upright, I winced against an all new rush of cold air. Somehow I summoned the courage to swing my legs over, and set my feet on the floor. It was like standing on a block of ice.
I stood, thinking that maybe it would help to move around. Do some jumping jacks. Get myself warmed up.
In the cold, freezing room.
Stupid.
I pulled on some socks and exhaled, watching my breath flow outward and slowly dissipate. That’s when Sebastian’s words came back to me, uninvited:
If you can ever see your breath… come in here and warm up.
I hesitated. Just for a second. Then I threw open the door, and a new blast of frozen air hit me.
The hallway was just as bad. Maybe worse.
The cold clung there, settling into every corner.
It crawled along the floor, like a frozen carpet of ice.
I crossed it quickly, not letting myself think too much about what I was about to do, and knocked once on his door.
I didn’t wait more than two seconds before I pushed it open.
“Sebastian?”
He stirred immediately. Not fully awake, but close.
… “Haven?”
“It’s freezing,” I said, not bothering to soften it. “I can’t sleep.”
He pushed himself to one elbow, glancing past me and into the hallway. Like the cold was behind me, and he was giving it the once-over.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I figured.”
And holy shit, his room was warmer. Not by a little. By a lot.
Even standing there, not fully in the room yet, I could feel the difference on my skin. Sebastian shifted, reached back, and pulled the blanket open slightly.
“Come here.”
I shook my head immediately. “I’m not—”
“Well, the floor’s freezing,” he said, his voice rough with sleep. “And I’m not chivalrous enough to take it.”
That almost got a laugh out of me. Almost.
I hesitated again, as the cold pressed in harder. My brain screamed for me to throw my body forward.
“I’ll just…” I gestured vaguely. “I’ll stay on top of the blankets.”
He shrugged, the muscles in his shoulders rolling.
“Suit yourself.”
Then, after a beat:
“I’d be warmer if you didn’t.”
I chewed my lip, skeptically. “Not helping.”
“Just stating facts.”
The edge of the blanket had dropped, through gravity. He lifted it again, holding it open. Not pushing, not insisting. Just… offering.
“We’ll go back to back,” he yawned. “No weirdness.”
I hesitated again. Longer this time. Ultimately, my body made the decision for me.
“Move over,” I told him.
He shifted to the far side of the bed, giving me space, and I climbed in carefully. I stayed on top of the blankets as I said I would, pulling my arms in close to my sides.
Cold. Still cold.
“See?” he said quietly. “Told you.”
I inhaled a sharp breath of icy air, and let it out slowly.
“Sebastian, I can’t—”
“It’s just how blankets work,” he said, smiling with one side of his pretty mouth. “You warm up faster if you’re under them.”
I rolled my eyes, but didn’t move. Neither did the cold. It just hung there, clinging to me all around. A full minute went by, and its edge didn’t soften.
“Fine,” I relented.
I lifted the edge of the blanket, and slid underneath. The difference was immediate.
Holy…
Warmth wrapped itself around me, sinking into my skin so fast it almost hurt. I let out a slow breath of contentment, snuggling in. My body loosened all over, as the tension it was holding started to unwind.
“I didn’t realize how cold I was… until I wasn’t,” I sighed happily.
“Yeah,” Sebastian murmured behind me. “That’s how it works.”
We lay there for a minute, completely still, back to back. Just as we’d agreed.
But then my back brushed his, and an even greater heat flowed over me. I shifted into it, absorbing it greedily. Sebastian took my cue, and pressed more of his warm flesh into mine.
I closed my eyes, briefly. It felt so fucking good, I couldn’t get enough. And then—
He spun over, spooning me from behind. I didn’t move, I didn’t speak, as his arm settled around me, lightly.
“This isn’t back to back,” I eventually said.
“No. No, it isn’t.”
His arm snaked around my waist, drawing me even tighter against him. His body felt like putting on warm clothes, straight from the dryer.
“It’s way better,” he stated. “Isn’t it?”
His arms and legs folded around me, and I didn’t object. It was like falling into pure bliss. We lay like that for a while, enjoying the fruits of our mutual body heat.
“Better?” he asked softly.
“Yeah.”
Outside the storm gathered strength, snow sweeping across the window in soft, relentless waves. But inside? Inside, we were insulated. Protected. Untouchable.
As of now, the storm could fuck right off.
“Haven?”
Without thinking, I spun to face him. Our arms and legs became a tangled mess of skin on skin, as our faces hovered together. Very quickly, I found I no longer cared.
“Yes?”
“How’d you end up here?”
I let out a quiet sigh.
“Which part?” I asked. “The freezing attic, or the house full of guys who’d happily vote me off the island at the next tribal council?”
He chuckled. “We have tribal councils?”
“Thursdays,” I nodded. “Right after your circle-jerk meetings.”
“I thought those were secret,” he played along.
“You can’t slip anything past this girl.”
He laughed again, softly, as I wondered if I’d stumbled into a double entendre.
“Seriously though,” Sebastian went on. “How’d you—”
“It was this or nothing,” I cut him off. “Budget cuts. Limited staff. They needed someone who could do the work without adding overhead.”
“So you volunteered to live in this place?”
I shook my head. “Didn’t have much choice, really. No savings. No backup plan. It was either take this job as it was, or don’t take it at all.”
He sat in silence, looking back at me from his pillow. His eyes were soulful. Searching.
“Besides,” I added, quieter now. “Coach wasn’t sold on the idea I could really know the team unless I was with the team.”
I shifted slightly, gesturing vaguely around us by moving my chin.
“And you don’t get any closer than this.”
Sebastian laughed, softly. He had a really nice laugh.
“No,” he said. “I guess you don’t.”
A sexy laugh, too.
He twisted a little, and somewhere beneath the blankets I felt his fingers graze my thigh. The shift sent a new wave of welcome heat flowing over me. But so did the incidental contact.
“Sorry,” he smiled.
“No you’re not.”
He hesitated, then shrugged guilty. “No. I’m not.”
The admission caused me to chuckle, despite myself.
“Alright,” I told him. “Your turn. How’d you end up here?”
“Same idea,” he said. “Opportunity. Not a lot of options.”
“Big family?” I guessed.
He did the sexy laugh thing again. “Is it that obvious?”
“You have that ‘used to the chaos’ thing going for you,” I told him. “Like silence makes you uncomfortable.”
He shifted again and smiled.
“You’re not wrong,” he admitted. “Back home, the house was always full. People everywhere. Noise all the time.”
“And now?”
“And now I’m the new guy,” Sebastian shrugged.
His words resonated with me. I nodded slightly.
“Yeah. Same.”
Another pause settled between us. It was different this time, though. Lighter.
“Except,” he added after a second, “you came in and started telling everyone they’re doing everything wrong.”
I smiled into the stillness.
“Not everything,” I pointed out.
“Just most things?”
“Only the important ones.”
He let out another low, masculine laugh.
“You’re not very subtle. You know that?”
I shifted, beneath the blankets. The movement sent my knee gliding along his.
“Neither are you,” I shot back. “You invited me into your bed a whole minute after I knocked.”
“That was for your own survival,” he said.
“Uh huh.”
“Strictly professional.”
“Of course.”
Another pause. We were closer now. Things were so much warmer.
“You’re freezing,” he said quietly.
“I was.”
His gaze dropped briefly before coming back up.
“You sure about that?”
Our eyes locked, and I held his gaze for a long moment. Something told me I should look away.
Something bigger told me not to.
“You’re the one offering heat,” I shrugged. “I’m just taking advantage of it.”
We were close enough to be on the same pillow, now. Something shifted in his expression.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
His eyes flared. “Prove it.”
I blinked. “Prove what?”
“That you’re not just here because of the cold.”
I stared back at him for a few long seconds.
“That sounds like a terrible idea.”
“Probably,” he shrugged.
“But you’re suggesting it anyway.”
“Maybe I like terrible ideas.”
I studied him without reservation, now. The quiet confidence. The lack of pressure. The fact that he wasn’t pushing, just… inviting.
Still dangerous, but in a completely different way.
Sebastian was beautiful. Beyond beautiful.
So warm. So handsome. So—
“Fine,” I sighed, letting out a long slow breath. “But if this backfires, I’m blaming you.”
“Fair.”
I cuddled closer, just enough. My breath hitched slightly, and my stomach did a slow somersault.
And then, leaning in…
I closed whatever distance remained.